Post by marg12 on Jul 19, 2009 6:41:11 GMT -7
I have had a lot of experience because I have had many, many old horses, since I was in the boarding business for 30 years and have had some really old ponies of my own, so I have tried many different things.
The reason that older horses have so much trouble eating as they become older is that their teeth start to wear incorrectly. And often the horses that are kept inside instead of being allowed to be outside all the time grazing will use a smaller lateral excursion (side to side) movement which causes the edges to develop sharp points. And also as the horse gets older, they lose teeth or the teeth wear in what they call a kind of rolling coaster design.
The food gets stuck in these empty places, especially hay. A horse
dentist can help a lot but sometimes, the older the horse is, the more
trouble there is. Now some horses do just fine as they get older. There is one horse that lives behind me, and she is supposedly 34 years old, and she was fat as she could be this past summer.
So when the teeth on older horse start to get really bad, the first event that happens is that they cannot eat hay, they spit it out in little balls because they can't chew it up. I guess I have been really lucky because I have never had a lot of trouble with a horse or pony choking. I had one old pony that choked a couple of times when someone gave her some carrots, but the vet made it in time and we were able to stop her from choking. So it is a really good idea stop feeding older horses carrots or anything else that is hard to chew.
Anyway, so now we have a horse that can't eat hay but still can graze on grass and that makes it much easier on the horse and owner in the summertime. At least the older horse can eat something.
I recommend feeding soaked beet pulp. Beet pulp in the shredded form is much better than the pellet form. Beet pulp provides nearly as many calories as oats and it ferments in the hind gut very easily for older horses and that is ideal. A senior horse requires a very high quality of fiber because of the lack of hay.
Older horses have to have quality fiber in their diet and even in the senior feeds, they are still lacking in some fiber. And it would be terrific if you could feed it three times a day. And I also added some hay pellets, either alalpha or just plain pellets. They do make a pellet that is mostly hay. Not the cubes, cause those take forever to soak, so that the horse can eat them. Or at least that is my opinion. I am sure some people have had success with the cubes and that is great.
Ok now, we reach the place where the older horse has trouble even eating grass. Sometime they lose teeth in the back of their mouth, and so the hay or grass gets stuck in that hole and they will start spitting out the hay and grass in little round balls. So at this point, I usually start feeding the horse or pony at least four times a day or maybe five times, cause they cannot graze or eat hay. And I feed them beet pulp, mixed with a senior feed and possibly some like alalpha pellets all soaked in hot water. I kept an older horse that was 32 years old very fat by doing this. I also had a pony that was well in her middle 30's very fat also with this feed
So it does work. ;D
If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask me. I will try to answer them. I am certainly far from an expert, but have been in the horse business for many years.
The reason that older horses have so much trouble eating as they become older is that their teeth start to wear incorrectly. And often the horses that are kept inside instead of being allowed to be outside all the time grazing will use a smaller lateral excursion (side to side) movement which causes the edges to develop sharp points. And also as the horse gets older, they lose teeth or the teeth wear in what they call a kind of rolling coaster design.
The food gets stuck in these empty places, especially hay. A horse
dentist can help a lot but sometimes, the older the horse is, the more
trouble there is. Now some horses do just fine as they get older. There is one horse that lives behind me, and she is supposedly 34 years old, and she was fat as she could be this past summer.
So when the teeth on older horse start to get really bad, the first event that happens is that they cannot eat hay, they spit it out in little balls because they can't chew it up. I guess I have been really lucky because I have never had a lot of trouble with a horse or pony choking. I had one old pony that choked a couple of times when someone gave her some carrots, but the vet made it in time and we were able to stop her from choking. So it is a really good idea stop feeding older horses carrots or anything else that is hard to chew.
Anyway, so now we have a horse that can't eat hay but still can graze on grass and that makes it much easier on the horse and owner in the summertime. At least the older horse can eat something.
I recommend feeding soaked beet pulp. Beet pulp in the shredded form is much better than the pellet form. Beet pulp provides nearly as many calories as oats and it ferments in the hind gut very easily for older horses and that is ideal. A senior horse requires a very high quality of fiber because of the lack of hay.
Older horses have to have quality fiber in their diet and even in the senior feeds, they are still lacking in some fiber. And it would be terrific if you could feed it three times a day. And I also added some hay pellets, either alalpha or just plain pellets. They do make a pellet that is mostly hay. Not the cubes, cause those take forever to soak, so that the horse can eat them. Or at least that is my opinion. I am sure some people have had success with the cubes and that is great.
Ok now, we reach the place where the older horse has trouble even eating grass. Sometime they lose teeth in the back of their mouth, and so the hay or grass gets stuck in that hole and they will start spitting out the hay and grass in little round balls. So at this point, I usually start feeding the horse or pony at least four times a day or maybe five times, cause they cannot graze or eat hay. And I feed them beet pulp, mixed with a senior feed and possibly some like alalpha pellets all soaked in hot water. I kept an older horse that was 32 years old very fat by doing this. I also had a pony that was well in her middle 30's very fat also with this feed
So it does work. ;D
If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask me. I will try to answer them. I am certainly far from an expert, but have been in the horse business for many years.